WinterFall: Once upon a ghoul

7. THE TRUTH

"Oh no!" began Holly, trying to make way through the forest "I hope Henry will be alright."

"Me too." said Hazel ensuring the presence of the stake, safely tucked inside the front pocket of her jeans.

"Shh!" said Heather leading the way and pointing her finger to her right. "Listen...I can hear something."

They turned right and saw a shack. They went closer to find Mr. Delton sitting in the front, coiling a rope around his hand to form a loop.

"Mr. Delton!" called out Holly.

"Oh yes! Come on! We can't lose much time!" he replied as he hung the rope on a hook on his belt.

"After you." he gestured to Heather, after whom Holly and Hazel followed.

He turned off the light in the shack and slipped a dagger from the shelf to his hand, eyes fixed on Heather.

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"I can't believe they fell right into his trap!" said Henry following Jack through the forest.

"We can't blame them, you know?" said Jack "If we were in their place, we would've done the same thing."

Henry sighed.

"But how can he be at three places all at once while I can't?!" asked Henry.

"You see, when a vampire transfers his ghoul to a person, not all his characteristics make the cut. Some of them remain with the vampire, like, shape shifting and super speed."

"Oh...but wait! How do you know this?" asked Henry surprised "You seriously sound like Hazel!"

"I did watch a documentary about vampires." snickered Jack "Who wouldn't when their best friend is a part vamp."

Henry smiled.

They froze when they saw three steps of footprints leading to a shack on their right.

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Heather stepped in front of a clearing followed by Holly, Hazel and Mr. Delton.

"Where are we gonna find Henry in this huge forest?!" asked Hazel.

"Mr. Delton said that they were headed in this direction." said Holly "So we may have a chance to find them. "

"Um...Mr. Delton?" began Heather looking at him "Why do you look so pale?"

Everyone looked at him, but saw that he wasn't Mr. Delton anymore. His face had changed to a long, pale face with gleaming red eyes and he had grown very tall. He opened his mouth to show his sharp white fangs.

Holly gasped.

He let out a menacing laugh.

"I can't believe that you actually thought that I was Mr. Delton." He said.

"Then who are you?!" questioned Hazel.

"I'm Craig, the one responsible for all the ghoul cases in this town." he said with a proud smile.

"Somebody help!" cried Holly.

"Oh no little girl! You think I brought you all the way here, so that you could find help if you just called for it?" he said "Even if someone did hear you, they would only come in time to find all three of your corpses lying on the ground."

"Do you intend to kill us?" asked Heather trying her best to remain calm.

"Obviously." he replied.

"But why?!" asked Hazel.

"To get revenge on Philip, of course." He said indifferently.

"You mean our father?!" asked Heather confused "But he's dead!"

"No, he was a vampire." said Craig.

"A vampire?!" asked Holly shocked.

"What do you mean he 'was'?!" asked Hazel.

"Okay, here's the story." began Craig "Philip and I were really good friends before we got turned into vampires. One night, we came to this forest to find some artifacts that the locals around here claimed to have seen. But, even before we got to the site, we were attacked and turned into vampires. But when he realized it, he was too afraid to go to your home as he thought that he would lose control and hurt all of you. So, we stayed in the forest for a few days. We got along pretty well until, I realized that we needed more of our kind here. So, I started to put myself in danger, in order to trap my ghoul in other people. Well, if you don't know, that's how it works!"

"As a matter of fact, we do know that." sneered Hazel.

"Okay," continued Craig ignoring Hazel "So as you can see, I sacrificed a lot to turn more people into my kind. And what do I get? Full on criticism. Especially from your father. He kept telling me that 'whatever I was doing' was ruining other people's lives, while I was merely trying to help the vampires!"

"But, our father was right!" said Holly.

"No, he was not!" said Craig "He even said that he had had enough of me and had mustered up the courage to go home to his family. By the time, he had started to get on my nerves. So when he prepared to leave, I attacked him from behind and imprisoned him so that he would be trapped there as long as I live!"

"You traitor!" said Heather through clenched teeth.

"Calm down!" said Craig "I only did what was best for you three. If he had gone home, he would have attacked you! Anyway, the rest was easy. I went to your home and convinced your mother that Philip was dead. The poor woman would trust anyone.'

"You weren't just anyone Craig! You were his friend!" said Hazel pointing her finger at him.

"Yeah, you could say that." said Craig "So, after I imprisoned him, I resumed my old business as I had no one to stop me this time! Well, until you came along! You all should be thanking me instead of being determined to kill me just because I turned your brother! Anyway, story time's over. I thought you deserved to know the truth before I kill you."

"Now," he said baring his fangs "Prepare to die."